Imprinting apparatus



April 5,y E AC WELLS i IMPRINTING API-ARATUS Original Filed May 5, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet l April 5, 1938. E'. (j- WELLS y I v 2,112,943

IMPRINTING APPARATUS Original Filed May, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 5, 193s. 'E c,I WELLS 2,112,943

IMPRINT ING APPARATUS Original Filed May 3, 1955 -5 Sheets-Sheet 3 e names 01- thngl arduous 'labor was k to the Shop rol M ipe in the' bank- Patented- Apr. 5, 1938 UNITED FA )if enr oFFlcr.

\ IMPRINTING APPARATUS Edward C. Wells, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to Platt Iron Works, inc., Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of New York Application May 3, 1933, Serial No. 669,097

Renewed September 3, 1936 2li Claims. (Cl. IS7- 84) This invention relates to the printing or impressing of letters or other characters; and more particularly to typewriters, and the like, having mechanisms, or attachments therefor, whereby controlled spacing of the imprinting characters is effected to produce justified lines.

One of the principal objects of the invention is the type characters while being associated into lines to vary the spacing of thel characters t produce lines of common length.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a justifying or spacing device having means for 'coordinating the space length between the impressed characters with the number of characters inla line to produce lines of a predetermined length.

Another object of the invention is the provision in such printing or character impressing mechanism of a spacing device for justifying the lines by reference to a like association of characters in unjustified lines. It is a further object of the invention to provide a device of the character described, including a laterally movable platen, means to move said platen in step-by-step increments to effect letter spacing, justifying means to differentially vary the length of said step-by-step movements,

a copyV holder to support unjustified typing, a pointer movable -into alignment with the end of an unjustied line, and means actuated as an incldent to movement of said pointer to condition said justifying means to differentially control the length of the step-by-step movements of said platen to permit reproduction of an unjustified line to justified length.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a justifying or spacing controlling device which is readily. attachable to a typewriter, or `other device, for associating or impressing type characters into lines, whereby such devices may operate so that the characters will be associated in successive lines of justified length.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

For purposes of ready description a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings. as a justifying mechanism for a typewriter.

In the drawings:-

Flg. 1 is a side elevational view with parts broken away for clearness of illustration, and shows the spacing device of the invention as a mechanism associated with a typewriting machine;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. l; l

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the character spacing device; l

` Fig. i is a sectional view taken on the line i-i l of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a drive connection and corresponds to the section indicated ,at 6 6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 'I is a fragmentary sectional view of the selector mechanism and corresponds to the section indicated at 1--1 of Fig. e;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on I the line 8 8 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view of another form of operating connection between the character '2 spacing device and the device uponI which the characters are impressed or associated.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view showing lines of characters associated in unjustified lines; and

Fig. 11 is a view similar Vto Fig. 1'0 and shows the characters associated in justified lines.v

Whenassociatlng type characters as words or other character groups into lines the lines would normally be of varying length due to the varying number ofv letters in the several words which can be included Within a line of a predetermined maximum length. In a typewriter, for'example, the characters are associated in the typed lines providing character spaces of uniform length, and because the character groups can only be separated at established `places such, for example, as at the end of a word or at the end of a syllable where a hyphen may be used, the lines necessarily vary in length.. In vsuch association of characters as heretofore impressed only one Y margin might be aligned. T'his invention provides for the association of such characters in justified linea-that is to say, in lines having a common length so that both margins arev aligned. This is accomplished' by varying the length of the character spaces in accordance with the number of characters in the line. 'I'he length of space is varied with respect to what might be termed a normal space length. The adjusted space length for any line is established by reference to all ranged at normal character spacing and by proportioning the character spacing of the justified line in accordance with the length of the unjustified line.

The justifier provides the operating connection between that part of a type character associating device from which the type characters are associated, and that part which is relatively movable thereto and upon which the type characters are adapted to be associated.l By controlling the relative movement of these parts which, for purposes of description, have been termed the frame and platen respectively, the characters may be readily associated in lines of common length. The type character spacing device or justifier is readily applicable to different uses, for example, as for spacing type characters that are 'the produced to a justified or common length.

In the drawings, in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views thereof, the numeral I0 designates the type character spacing device or justifier which is shown as having a frame portion Il and a carriage I2 which is movable thereon. The justifier as herein shown is mounted upon a common base I3 with a typewriter I4 although it is to be understood that the justifier need not be a separate part from the typewriter or other character associating device. 'I'he typewriter comprises generally a frame I5 and a carriage I6 that is movable thereon. The justifier is operatively connected to the typewriter for controlling the movement of the typewriter carriage I6 whereby the type characters associated or imprinted in word or other sequence relationship on the platen I1 of the typewriter carriage IE may be spaced to produce lines of common length, that is to say, so that the lines may be justified.

The justifier is readily applicable to different makes of typewriters and for purposes of illustration has been shown as associated with a Royal typewriter. As the operation and mechanism of this construction of typewriter are well known, being such as described in the patent to Hess et al. 1,427,464, August 29, 1922, only so much of the mechanism of this typewriter is illustrated in detail as is needed in order' to permit of a clear understanding of the operation of the typewriter and attached justifier.

As mentioned above, the justifier serves to control the length of character space movement of the typewriter platen I1 which is operatively connected to the carriage I2. This is accomplished by the provision of Amechanism between the relatively movable justifier parts II and I2 so that the space length of a character movement may be varied in accordance with the number of characters that are to be associated in a justified line. For any given justified line the character spaces are of uniform length, and in the different lines constituting a sheet of copy the space length for a line varies in accordance with the number of character spaces therein.

The variation in the space length is obtaine a like association of the same characters arthrough provision of a selective drive operable between the frame II and carriage I2 and which may be readily controlled as to the extent of a space movement, and includes a selector whereby a proper space length relationship may be established to produce lines to a common length.

In the form of type character spacing device illustrated the carriage I2 is supported for movement upon the frame I I. As shown, one side of the frame II is provided with a guideway 20 having a groove 2| that is cooperatively related to a similar groove in the guideway 22 on the carriage I2. A plurality of bearing balls 23 are positioned between the guideway grooves and provide a free moving support at one side of the carriage I2. Additional support is afforded by a rod 25that is shown mounted between laterally extending brackets 2S on the frame Il. This rod is slidably engaged by a. bracket 21 which is attached to and extends downwardly from the carriage I2. Carriage movement in the right hand direction is limited by provision of a sleeve 28 on the rod 25 which serves as a stop between the frame bracket 26 and the carriage bracket 21. This stop mechanism also serves in locating the left hand margin position of the typewriter carriageIS.

The carriage I2 is constantly urged'toward the left (as viewed in Figs. 2, 3 and 4) and is controlled in its movement in that direction by an escapement mechanism. Carriage movement to the left is by means of a spring and ribbon such as is common and well known for the movement of a. typewriter carriage. As shown', a stud 30 (Fig. 5) on the frame I I carries a rotatable spool 3I upon which a ribbon 32 is wrapped. One end of the ribbon is fixed to the'spool and the other end is connected at 33 to the carriage. A suitable spring is attached to the stud 30 and spool 3| to tension the spool for movement of the carriage to the left.

The escapement which controls the space by space movement of the carriage I2, and which is shown at 35, (Figs. 5 and 8) may be of any suitable type such, for example, as that illustrated which is well known for controlling the movement of a typewriter carriage. As shown, the escapement is mounted upon a bracket 36 which is attached to the frame II and comprises a rocking member 31 pivotally mounted upon the frame 36 by means of pivot members 38. The frame 36 also carries rotatable star wheel or escapement wheel 40 that is operatively connected .to the carriage I2 and has angularly spaced teeth 4I which are engaged in succession by parts carried on' the rocking frame 31 for spacing movement of the carriage. A pivotally movable arm 42 on the rocking member is spring tensioned for movement between a fixed stop 43 and an adjustable stop 44. In one position of the rocking member .the arm 42 stands in the path of movement of the escapement wheel teeth and, as a result of the spring tension on the carriage I2, is held by the tooth against the adjustable stop 44. Upon pivotally moving the rocking member, as by depressing a key on the typewriter, the upper end of the member 31 swings forwardly an amount sufiicient to disengage the arm 42 and engage a finger46 with the tooth previously held by the arm 42. This permits the arm to move under urge of its spring 41 so that upon return movement of the frame 31 the arm will engage the next tooth and thus permit a movement of the wheel 40 by the amount of one tooth space. The escapement wheel 40 has rotatably mounted upon it a pinion Il which is caused to move with the escapement .wheel in one direction of its movement through provision of a spring pressed pawl @9. This paw] serves as adrive connection between the pinion and wheel inthe direction of feeding movement of the carriage and serves also, by overrunning, to permit independent return movement .oi the carriage.

The selective drive connection from 'the pinion 48 to the carriage i2 is through a gear 5B which is interconnected with other gears of different sizes for rotation with a common shaft 59 carried by the frame il. The several gears rotate together and mesh with racks that may be selectively connected to .the carriage i2. The gears are proportioned yso that the pitch diameter of each differs from the pitch diameter of an adjacent gear by an amount sumcient to change the number oi character spaces in a predetermined line length by one whole character space. For example.. gear 59 may be constructed to have a pitch diameter such that the escapement mechanism will provide for sixty-:dile character spaces in a line six and one-half inches long. The next adjacent gear 5i is suiiiciently larger that only.

sixty-four character space movements by the escapement are necessary to move the carriage the same amount that it is moved by gear 5@ in sixty-five character spaces, that is, to provide the same length line. This same relationship exists between the gears 52 and 5i and so on between gears 5S, 5d, 55, to gear t which is of such size that nity-nine character spaces will be distributed uniformly in the six and one-half inch line. The corresponding racks, which are indicated by the numerals t@ to tt, (Figs. 4 and 5) are all of like form and are slidably mounted upon. the carriage. As shown, the carriage is provided with spaced blocks Bi and SS. blocks are notched on their underside to receive the racks as indicated at t9 and position the racks in alignment with the corresponding gears. Each rack is slotted as indicated at 5l corresponding to the spacing of the blocks, and each is held for sliding movement within the blocks through provision of pins 58 that pass through the rack slots 5i (Fig. 7).

The racks are selectively engaged with the carriage i2 through provision of a latching mechanism which is duplicated for each rack. As shown, freely movable arms '10 to 16 (Figs. 4 and 7) are positioned adjacent the racks for rocking movement upon the right hand .pin 58. Each arm is provided with a notch Il which is adapted to engage a pin projection 18 on the associated rack. The arms are of like shape and consequently the notches 'i1 all stand an equal distance from the pivot pin 58 upon which the arms are mounted. The arms are urged downwardly by similar springs 19. The associated gears and racks are assembled in such relation.- ship that when the carriage is moved to the right hand position the pins 18 will stand axially aligned and beneath the arm notches 'H for engagement thereby.

It should be understood that any desired line length may be justified by a proper selection of drive gears corresponding to the gears 5d to 56. However, the gears must be of related sizes so that for a given line length the gears will permit carriage movement of an amount diifering in adjacently related gears by one whole. character space length. The gears are preferably selected as to size so that the gear which provides the greatest number of character spaces for a given These amaca;

line length will produce space lengths which are normal forthe size of characters used. For example, when .the justier is used with a typewriter the spacing afforded by the gear mentioned is the same as the spacing produced by the typewriter escapement. For convenience in description this has been called normal spacing.

It will be ,obvious that other sizes of gears may be used so long as their relationship is such that they diier one from another in amounts to produce a one character space difference in the predetermined line length. It will also be apparent that any one of the gears may be utilized to provide the desired normal spaceiength, so obviously the random length lines ofunjustified copy can be condensed as well as elongated A selector is provided whereby the proper arm may be moved into engaging position for operatively connecting the desiredrack'and gear to the carriage. The selector comprises a rotatable shaft 97 which is carried in bearings 88 on the carriage i2. The shaft has mounted upon it 'a pluralityA of axially spaced cams indicated by the numerals to 86 i Fig. 4) and positioned corresponding to the arms. Each arm has at its outward end a roller-89 which engages the periphery of its associated cam. As shown, the cams are formed generally circular and each has an indentation 90 of sumcient depth to permit arm movement whereby a notch l'may engage its associated pin 19. lThe cams are ixed to the shaft 81 so that the cam notches are equally spaced in angular relationship, and so that only one arm may .move to engaging position at a time. The selecting movement of the cam shaft is through provision of al readily accessible knob 9i.

Indicating means are associated with the selector whereby the positioning of the selector may be readily observed, and to ald in effecting driving engagement with theA proper gear and rack assembly. As shown, the shaft 81 has xed to it a cam 93 which is constructed with a series of stepped faces corresponding in number. to the cams 90 to 86 and of progressively increasing distance from the shaft axis. A bar 94 that is slidably carried by the blocks 61 and t8 operatively engages the cam 93 for movement thereby in accordance with the positioning of the shaft 8l and its associated parts. The bar 94 is slidably mounted upon the blocks 61 and 68 through provision of slots 95 that are engaged by screws 95 held in the blocks. The end of the bar adjacent the cam 93 is provided with a roller 91 which is urged into contacting engagement with the cam by a spring 98. The bar 94 carries a pointer 99 that moves in accordance with the cam positioning and thus serves as an indicator for readily adjusting the selector. The radial spacing of the cam faces is suchthat: the pointer is moved by adjacently related faces an amount equal to a normal character' space. The cam 93 is iixed 99 to 86 into arm engaging position the pointer moves accordingly.

As mentioned above, the justifier carriage I2v has a driving connection with the typewriter carriage IgG to control the movement of the platen ii. The justifier is also connected to the typewriter so that character space movements are im- -Ili parted to the justifier carriage in accordance the limits established by the guide lines. This with typewriter operation, that is, the justifier carriage is moved as the typewriter keys are depressed. This operation is produced by connecting the justifier escapement with the typewriter escapement, and by rendering inoperative the connection between the typewriter escapement and the typewriter carriage I6 so that the movement of the carriage I6 is controlled by the movement of the justifier carriage I2. As shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 5, the rocking member 31 of the justifier escapement carries a roller |I that is engaged by an arm |02 on a rock shaft |03 which carriesalso a second arm |04. The arm |00 has a link connection |05 with the bar |01 of the typewriter escapement mechanism. The bar |01 is supported for rocking movement and moves to actuate the typewriter escapement upon depression of any key. The rocking movement of the bar |01 is transmitted to the justifier escapement through the linkage just described so that the justifier escapement is actuated in accordance with the operation of the typewriter escapement. As mentioned above, the operating connection between the typewriter escapement and the typewriter carriage is rendered inoperative. This is accomplished by holding the carriage escapement release lever IIO in depressed position through provision of a suitable latch I I. Upon depressing the lever IIO the escapement rack I I2 is moved out of engagement with thepinion II3 that is associated with the typewriter escapement wheel II4.

Any suitable driving connection may be provided whereby the typewriter carriage I6 and platen I1 will move in accordance with the movement of the justifier carriage I2. As shown, there is attached to the bracket 21 of the carriage I2 a projecting finger IIB which extends forwardly at the elevation of the typewriter tabular bar II1. This finger is operatively connected to the carriage I6 by the insertion in the bar I|1 of readily removable clips IIB at each side of the finger I I6. Independent movement of the typewriter carriage is obtained by releasing the latch III to render the typewriter escapement operative, and by disengaging the clips |I8 so that the carriages are disconnected from one another.

To produce associated type characters in lines of justified length the characters are first associated in lines of random length by using normal spacing. This copy is then used as an index or guide for reproducing vthe characters in lines of justified length. To use the illustrated structure to provide an example of this, the mattei' to be reproduced in justiiied lines` is first typed on the typewriter in the normal manner to produce a sheet of copy corresponding to that shown in Fig. 10. The unjustified copy is produced within the limits of a predetermined line length as indicated by the vertical guide lines and |20'. These lines are spaced apart according to the predetermined line length at which justification is obtained, that is at which the coordinated gear and rack combinations of the justifier varying by whole space length differences will produce typed lines of the same length. In the is readily accomplished by either terminating the typed line at the end of a word, or by terminating the line where a` word may be hyphenated as indicated.

In the illustrated construction provision has been made to justify as much as six space lengths in the predetermined line length. 'Ihis means, including the normal space length afforded by gear 50, that lines varying as much as seven spaces can be justified. It has been found by practice that practically any line may be terminated within a seven space variation either by ending a word or by hyphenating. In those few instances where a greater variation exists justification is obtained by inserting an additional character space between a sumcient number of adjacently related words that the line is reproduced to justified length.

In order that the unjustified copy may be readily used as a guide in adjusting the justifier to produce justified lines a carrier is provided forA such copy. As shown, the justifier carriage has a copy carrier II5 mounted above it upon brackets |I6'. The copy carrier I|5 comprises a frame I I1 upon which a roller I I8 is rotatably mounted. The roller |I8 is arranged to support the unjustified copy so that it may be readily moved to a desired position by turning the roller knob I9. Suitable adjustable clips I2| also aid in positioning the copy in the frame II1'. The unjustified copy is thus held so that it can be easily read by thel operator when reproducing it in justified form, and so that the pointer of the selector may be readily moved with respect to the unjustified line lengths for adjustment of the character space length. As shown, the pointer 99 is of sufficient length that its end |22 terminates adjacent the front face of the roller. The pointer is guided by provision of an overlying bar |23 which permits free sliding movement of the pointer.

The device is prepared to produce justified lines by moving the carriage to the right hand position and by turning the selector knob 9I so that the pointer stands in the position of the predetermined line length. This corresponds to the cam positioning in which gear 50 and rack 60 are cooperatively connected to the carriage I2. The unjustified copy is then placed in the carrier so that the right hand margin of the predetermined line lengthl stands in registration with the pointer. This is readily accomplished by providing the unjustified copy with guide lines or by placing a reference mark on the copy in the position of the right hand margin. Having placed the copy in the carrier as described the selector knob 9| is then turned to move the pointer 99 into registration with the last letter of the line that is to be recopied in justified form. This selects the proper gear and rack that will produce vcharacter spacing of the justifier such that the number of 'characters in the selected line will be adjusted 'to produce a like number of character spaces to'justied length.

As shown in the unjustified copy illustrated in Fig. 10, the first line is two characters short of predetermined line`length. After placing the cop'y in the carrier with the first line in view the knob 9| is turned an amount suiiicient to bring the pointer 99 into registration with the last letter of the line, which brings the cam 82 into position for engagement of the arm 12 with its rack 62 so that gear 52 will connect the justifier escapement to the carriage. The copy is then reproduced on the typewriter and, by having selected a proper length of character space, will be reproduced to justified line length as is shown` in the first line of the copy illustrated in Fig. 1l. This same procedure is followed for each succeeding line of the original unjustified copy, and in each line the selection is made in accordance with the unjustified line length..

In order to insure maintenance of the selected character space length throughout the extent of any given line, whereby all of the character spaces of that line are oi uniform extent, a locking de vice is provided so that selection can only be made at one position in the carriage travel. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention this selection is made at the right hand limit of carriage movement in which` position the lock is disengaged; Also, in this position, the latch pins 'i8 are aligned. l Y

As shown in Fig. 3, a lever arm |28 is pivotally attached at |29 to the carriage |2 and is urged in a counterclockwise direction by provision of ay spring |30. The arm has a detent finger |3| which isadapted to engage a notched wheel |32 that is fixed to the shaftS'l and is provided with notches |33 corresponding in positioning to the' indented portions 90 of the cams 80 to 86. The movement of the lever arm |28 is controlled by a horizontally extending bar |34 which extends along the front of the frame and is positioned so that the lower end |35 of the arm |28 can override the bar i3d only when the detent |3| is in engagement with a notch of the wheel, |32. The parts |26 and i3d are coordinated as to positioning so that when the carriage is in the extreme right hand position the arm end |35 may drop down an amount suflicient to release the detent |3|. In this position the arm vend |35 operates against the end of the bar I3! as a positive stop whereby the carriage may not be moved until the arm |28 is rocked by depressing the handle portion |36 to engage the detent |3| and release the arm end |35. Upon making the proper gear selection the handle portion 636 is depressed whereupon the carriage moves to the left an amount just sufficient to cause the arm end |35 to override the bar |36. The selected line is then typed in, justified form and the carriage is returned for selection of character space length for the'next succeeding line.

As mentioned above, the justifier drive `connection incorporating the gear 5|! and rack 60 preferably provides a normal character space length,

' that is, a space length corresponding to the normal character spacing of the typewriter., The

original unjustified copy may therefore be typed on the platen of the typewriter carriage I6 either by using the typewriter escapement or the justifier escapement as desired.

The justifier may be arranged to Vjustify any desired line length by a proper selection of gears constituting the drive connection. That is, having determined the justified line length, gears are selected for assembly on the common shaft having a pitch diameter relationship such that the character space length `will divide evenly into the justified line length, and so that the number of character spaces afforded by any given gear in traversing the carriage the distanceof the justied line length will diier from the number of spaces producedby adjacently positioned gears by one whole character space length. rI'his is clearly brought out in the description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention wherein the justified line is assumed to be six and onehalf inches long, and the normal spacing is taken to be ten characters per inch, or sixty-five character spaces of normal length in the justified line. The gears are proportioned so that sixtyve or less whole character spaces are produced, and the variation between adjacent gears `is by steps oi one whole character space length in the justied line length. As a further illustration, a justied line length of seven inches is assumed'for a device having a normal character spacing of twelve characters per inch or eightyfour character spaces rfor the justified line. In this instance the gears will be proportioned so that carriage travel for the justified line length will be eighty-four or less whole spaces, differing in adjacent gears by one whole space. If an assembly of lseven gears is provided the range of justification will then' be from eighty-four to seventy-eight spaces. If desired, the number of gears, together with the associated rack and other selecting mechanism, may be increased in. number to provide a greater range of justifica-` tion. It has been found, however, 'that a seven space range is adequate.

When the justifier is to .be used as an attachment on devices which will not permita compact mounting such as is illustrated in those figures of the drawings showing the justifier as a closely positioned typewriter attachment the justiner may be mounted in any vdesired position remote from. the device upon Which-type characters are associated by provision oian operating connection such as is shown in Fig. 9 wherein the carriage of the justifier and the carriage upon ,which the type characters are associated are interconnected by means of a shaft.. As shown,fthe justifier carriage I2' has attached to it a rackl|4ll which extends parallel to-the direction of travel of the carriage. A gear |4| which is fixed to a shaft |42 meshes with ther` rack |40. The shaft |42 is supported in suitable brackets on the justier frame and on a fixed portion of the device upon which the type characters are associated; The shaft-end adjacent the typewriter, or whatever device is to be controlledy quence and arrangement as will give a predetermined length for successive or succeeding lines. And, obviously, when desired-the variable spacing mechanism may. be made applicable to devices other than the typewriter in which the type or impressing characters are effective within a given zone or space and the material being acted upon is moved with relation thereto.

While 4the method herein described, and the form of apparatus for carrying this method into effect, constitute preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise method and form of apparatus, and that changes may be made in either without departingfrom the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is'claimed is:

1. A type character spacing device of the character described adapted for associating type characters in lines having aligned margins, said device comprising parts including a frame and platen relatively movable for character spacing, selectively variable spacing means connecting said parts and adapted upon actuation to release said parts for a character space movement, control means adjustable to selectively vary the spacing means to alter the length of the character space movement, and locking means to hold the control means in adjusted position except in a predetermined position of said platen.

2. A type character spacing device of the character described adapted for associating type characters in lines having aligned margins, said device comprising a relatively movable frame and platen, spacing means connecting said parts and adapted upon actuation to release said parts for a character space movement, means for selectively varyingthe length of the character space `movement between said parts, locking means engageable with said space varying means to hold said means in selected position, and means for maintaining said locking means engaged except in one margin position.

3. A type character spacing device of the charn a character space movement of desired length,

locking means normally tending to prevent actuation of said adjustable means.

4. In a Itype character spacing device of the character .described adapted to associate type characters in justified lines from copy constituting like associations of characters in unjustified lines, a carriage, a platen operatively connected thereto upon which type characters are adapted to be associated in justified lines, a holder for holding the unjustified copy, means for moving the carriage, means for controlling character space movement of the carriage, said controlling means comprising a plurality of drive connections for imparting character space movement of different lengths, indicating means extending toward the copy holder for registration with a line end of the copy and movable into registration with a selected line end, and means operated with the indicating means for selectively engaging a drive connection to impart carriage movement of a character space length coordinated with the length of a line of unjustified copy to reproduce the characters of that line in justified length on the platen.

5. In a type character spacing device of the character described adapted to associate type characters i-n justified lines from copy constituting like associations of characters in unjustified lines, a carriage, a platen attached thereto upon which type characters are adapted to be associated in justified lines, means for supporting the unjustified copy on said carriage, means tion corresponding to a predetermined line length, means for moving the pointer from the first of a line of unjustified copy and for simultaneously adjusting the length of carriage character space movement whereby the characters associated on the platen are justified to the predetermined line length.

6. In a type character spacing device of the Y character described comprisi-ng a frame and a carriage movable thereon, a platen carried by said carriage, means for moving the carriage by character spaces and for selectively varying the length of the character spaces comprising a plurality of members freely movable on said carriage, a latch on said carriage for each member, said latches being movable into engagement with the corresponding members to afford a driving engagement between a member and the carriage, a rotatable shaft, angularly related cams on said shaft axially spaced in positions corresponding to the positioning of said latches and adapted upon shaft rotation to successively move each latch into engagement with its member.

7. In a type character spacing device of the character described comprising a frame and a carriage movable thereon, a platen carried by said carriage, means for moving the carriage by character spaces and for selectively varying the length of the character spaces comprising a plurality of members freely movable on said carriage, a latch on said carriage for each member, said latches being movable into engagement with the corresponding members to afford a driving.

engagement between a member and the carriage, a rotatable shaft, angularly related cams on said shaft axially spaced in positions corresponding to the positioning 'of said latches and adapted uponshaft actuation to successively move each latch into engagement with its member, and means for indicating the latch positioning comprising a cam member on said shaft anda pointer in operating engagement with said cam.

8. A justifying attachment for a typewriter comprising a frame portion adapted to be fixedly mounted with respect to the typewriter frame, a justifier carriage movably mounted on said justifier frame portion and adapted to traverse a predetermined line length, means for operatively connecting the justifier carriage and o the carriage of the typewriter, a platen on said typewriter carriage, an escapement mechanism for the justifier carriage, means for operatively connecting the justifier escapement and the escapement mechanism of the typewriter, means for rendering the typewriter escapement mech;

a length of character spacing such as to repro-l duce the characters forming a line of unjustified copy into a line of predetermined length on the platen.

9. I-n a type character spacing device of the character described comprising a platen supporting carriage movable between fixed margin limits, an escapement mechanism adapted upon actuation to release said carriage for a character space movement, a plurality of relatively fixed mentioned position into registration with the endI gears of differing pitch diameter operatively con- Y nected to said escapement to provide space movements of varying extent, a raclr for each of said gears, latch receiving means on each rack, aligned latchlng means on the carriage selectively engageable with said rack latch receiving means, the gear and rack relationship being such that the latch receiving means are aligned in one margin position of the platen.

1G. In a type character spacing device of the character described comprising a platen supporting carriage movable between xed margin positions, anI escapement mechanism adapted upon actuation to release said carriage for a characterl space movement, a plurality of relatively xed gears of differing pitch diameter inv constant operative engagement with said escapement, a rack in meshing engagement with each gear, latch receiving means on each of said racks, a latch on the carriage for each of said rack latch receiving means, and a rotatable control member for the latches to selectively and individually engage a rack to the carriage.

l1. In a device for reproducing lines of type characters arranged as unjustified copy in lines of random length to lines of predetermined common length, adjustable spacing means, a copy holder to hold the unjustied copy in predetermined position, and means registrable with a random length line of the copy in the copy holder as an index in adjusting the character spacing for reproduction of that line to predetermined length..

l2. In a device for associating type characters in justified lines from like associations of characters in unjustied lines, a carrier for unjustied copy, adjustably variable spacing means, and means extending toward the copy carrier and movable into registration with an unjustified line end to adjust the spacing-means by an amount to space the characters of that line to justified line length. I

i3. In a type character spacing device of the character described comprising a platen movable between xed margin limits, an escapement mechanism adapted upon actuation to release said platen for a character space movement, variable spacing means operable to vary the length of character space with respect toI a lcharacter space of normal length, a rotatable control member for the spacing means, and means for indicating the positioning of the control member comprising a stepped cam on the control member and a pointer operated by said cam, said cam steps being graduated to move the pointer in amounts of one normal character space length.

14. In a type character spacing device of the character described comprising a platen supporting carriage movable between fixed margin limits, an escapement mechanism adapted upon actuation to release said carriage for a character space movement, a plurality of relatively xed gears of differing pitch diameter operatively connected to said escapement, a. rack for each gear,

latch receiving means on each of said racks, a

latch on the carriage for each of said rack latch receiving means, a rotatable control member for the latches, means thereon for selectively engaging the racks at angularly spacedpoints on the control member, and means for indicating the positioning of the control member comprising a cam on the control member and a pointer operated by said cam, said cam having stepped. :faces coordinated as to positioning with the latching positions.

'r 15. A device for associating. type characters in justified lines comprising a movable platen, a

carrier for copy arranged in lines of uniform character spacing and random length within the limits of the justified line length, means for moving the platen by character spaces, adjusting means for varying the extent of a space movement, and indicating means operable with the adjusting means and extending toward the copy carrier for registration with a random line end as an index of the adjusted position of the spacing means for reproduction of the indicated line to justified length.

16. In a type character spacing device for' justifying random length lines into lines oi predetermined length having aligned margins, the combination of a platen movable between `predetermined margin limits, an escapement mechanism adapted upon actuation to release said platen for a character Vspace mevement, adjustable spacing means comprising a plurality of adjacently related gears of differing pitch diameter, each gear having an intermeshing rack, the pitch relationship of the adjacent gears being such as to traverse the platen between the said margin limits by a difference of one whole character space, means for selectively attaching a desired gear and rack combination between the escapement and the platen, and locking means to defeat operation of said last mentioned means when the platen is intermediate its marginal positions.

17. In a type character spacing device ofthe character described, the combination of a platen movable between predetermined marginal .positions, an es capement mechanism, a member movable under control of said escapement, said escapeme'nt mechanism being adapted upon actuation to release said member for a character space movement, adjustable spacing means between the platen and member to transmit motion to the platen and to vary the platen travel with respect to theescapementmovement, a rotatable control movable to`predetermined positions for adjustment of the spacing means to provide space variation of one whole character space in the platen travel between the margin limits, and locking means to defeat operation of said rotatable control when said platen is intermediate its marginal positions.

18. A justifying device attachable as a unit to a typewriter having a. frame, movable platen, a platen carriage, and movable key bars, said-de- ,vice controlling the spacing of the typewriter platen and comprising a supporting frame adapted to be fixed to the typewriter frame, a platen controlling carriage member supported by said supporting frame for rectilinear movement,

means for selectively attaching the platen carriage member to the typewriter platen carriage at a desired one of a plurality of positions spaced in the vdirection of movement of the platen carriage member, escapement means supported by said supporting frame, means operated by the keys of the typewriter for operating said escapement, and variable spacing means between the escapement means and the platen controlling member adjustable to positions affording predetermined space movements of the typewriter platen which are aliquot fractional parts of a predetermined line length, and means for adjusting the variable spacing means.

19. A justifying device for 'reproducing lines of type characters arranged as unjustified copy in lines of random length to lines of predetermined common length, comprising a platen, adjustable spacing means for the platen, a copy carrier affording a predetermined copy position on the justiiier for unjustified copy that is to be reproduced into justiiied form, control means for the adjustable spacing means, and means operable with the control means and movable to a desired one oi.' a plurality of positions each having a predetermined relationship to the copy position on the copy carrier to establish a positionlng for the adjustable spacing means coordinated to the length of the line of copy to be reproduced.

20. A justifying device for reproducing lines of type characters arranged as unjustified copy in lines of random lengths to lines of predetermined length comprising a type platen, movable key bars adapted forl cooperation with said means operated by said key bars, and adjustable 10 spacing means between the escapement means and the justier carriage adjustable to positions affording predetermined spacemovements of the justifier carriage which are aliquot fractional parts of a predetermined line length.

EDWARD c. WELLS. 

